When Reporters Turn Against Reporters -- With Lawyers!

Big-name reporter and plagiarist Gerald Posner has now hired a lawyer who believes that the act of reporting on reporters who plagiarize can “constitute tortious interference with a business relationship, tortious interference with a contractual relationship, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.” That’s right: if you write someone’s publisher and ask what they are going to do about the author’s plagiarism, you are interfering in TORTS, baby. Which is a pretty amazing thing for an attorney for a reporter to suggest, but it’s okay, that is going to be a laugh riot in court. Except they haven’t filed anything in court. They’re too busy talking about doing so to do so. The Miami New Times, meanwhile, promises a fresh batch of reporting, though none of it interfering with TORTS, on Posner. Also they identify his attorney, Mark Lane, as “an 83-year-old Jonestown survivor.” Who needs a dance break after all this?